February’s strong numbers mostly reflect the fact that Trump inherited a strong economy from his predecessor. The Fed sees interest rate hikes as necessary to ward off inflation, but the policy could also slow the economic recovery. But it’s too early to attribute very much of the strong economy to Trump’s leadership. And the labor force participation rate — which fell dramatically after 2007 and never really recovered — has seen slight gains over the past few months. So the Fed is likely to take this month’s strong job numbers as a green light to tighten monetary policy.

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Gary Cohn, economic adviser, doesn’t credit Trump with jobs report

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According to Gary Cohn, the head of Trump’s National Economic Council, there’s no reason to credit Trump for the strong report. The February jobs report that the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday was strong: 235,000 jobs were added — higher than the 200,000 expected by economists. Additionally, the weather could have made the report look even stronger than it would have otherwise. For one thing, Cohn said, the jobs that were promised by CEOs who have met with Trump haven’t been created yet. Cohn is right in the sense that the February report is fairly on par with the economic trajectory of the past few years.

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At Friday’s press briefing, Sean Spicer told an absurd lie to the assembled members of the White House press corps. The issue was the release this morning of a strong jobs report indicating continued growth in the economy, which many Republicans took the opportunity to crow about. That said, it’s a pretty good indicator of how much Trump has succeeded in lowering the bar in terms of standards of conduct. SPICER: “They may have been phony in the past, but it’s very real now. “—via @MSNBC pic.twitter.com/PDt1Q8hrbp — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 10, 2017Reporters laughed at the absurdity of the answer and the absurdity of the overall situation.